Islamabad, Feb 1 (PTI) Even though electioneering lacked traditional enthusiasm due to repeated rumours about a possible delay in the February 8 general elections in Pakistan, the campaigning has finally picked pace.
Here is a look at eight of the high-stakes seats across constituencies from where big guns are contesting and expected to give each other tough competition, based on a report by Dawn.com that sifted through the 272 National Assembly (NA) seats up for grabs.
The seat NA-130 Lahore in the provincial capital Punjab wins hands down for being the most high-stakes contest.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and PTI’s former provincial health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid are the two top contestants there.
PML-N’s Sharif, after facing trials and tribulations, including time in jail – he was convicted ahead of the last election held in 2018 – and his self-imposed exile, returned in October 2023 to make a political comeback. Lahore is the home ground for Sharif, the prime ministerial face of the PML-N.
An MBBS doctor and a cancer survivor, Yasmin Rashid is currently incarcerated due to her alleged role in the May 9 violence. Party workers claim she earned their respect for defying pressure and standing by PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan when several frontline PTI leaders ditched him after arrests following the violence.
Sharif is also running from NA-15 in Mansehra against Gustasif Khan of the PTI and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Mufti Kifayatullah.
Another important contest is where Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is contesting from three NA constituencies: two from his home province of Sindh and one from NA-127 Lahore.
At Lahore – which will be his electoral debut in Punjab – he will be facing PML-N firebrand Ataullah Tarar as well as Chaudhry Shabbir Gujjar — an independent associated with the PTI.
The third important contest involves Maryam Nawaz, Sharif’s daughter and his political heiress, who is in the field in the Lahore NA-119 seat. She has been challenged by the PTI-backed Mian Abaad Farooque and Iftikhar Shahid of the PPP.
She is also contesting for the Punjab provincial assembly seat from Lahore and could be the front-runner for the post of provincial chief minister, though the slot is traditionally reserved for her uncle Shehbaz Sharif or his son Hamza Shehbaz.
Maryam was appointed as PML-N senior vice president in January 2023 and has been leading her party’s campaign with her father.
In Lahore, a tough match is expected on NA-122 between PML-N’s senior leader Khawaja Saad Rafiq and PTI-supported Sardar Latif Khosa, who recently quit PPP in favour of PTI. Khosa, a prominent lawyer, also served as the governor of Punjab from 2011 to 2013 during the tenure of PPP.
In another competition, Ali Musa Gilani, son of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, is up against Mehr Bano Qureshi, daughter of jailed former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on NA-151 Multan.
In NA-44, Dera Ismail Khan, another tough competition is likely among the three regional heavyweights — Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PTI leader and former federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur and PPP central information secretary Faisal Karim Kundi. In the 2018 election, Gandapur defeated Fazl by a massive margin.
In Karachi’s NA-241, Dr Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is up against PTI Karachi president Khurram Sher Zaman.
Sattar’s association with the party goes back decades and in 1987, at the age of 28, he was elected the mayor of Karachi.
Sattar is also a candidate from Karachi’s NA-244, where another former PTI MNA Aftab Jahangir — who won from Karachi in 2018 beating Sattar — will be his primary rival.
In Rawalpindi’s NA-56, Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid and PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi will be rekindling their long-time rivalry. In 2018, Rashid won from Rawalpindi’s NA-62, defeating the PML-N candidate after the PTI, as part of its alliance with Rashid, did not field a candidate.
However, in 2024, Rashid has severed ties with the PTI, and, therefore, this time around, he will not only face PML-N’s Abbasi but also take on PTI’s Shahryar Riaz, according to the Dawn.com report.
As other main parties continue to campaign and hold election rallies, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has seen scores of its leaders quit the party due to a crackdown in the wake of the May 9 violence while party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan has been disqualified due to conviction in different cases, mostly in corruption cases. PTI SH NPK AKJ NPK NPK
About the Author
